


Blue Bird

by orphan_account



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Chenle and Jisung are the same age, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Mark and Yukhei are the same age as 00 line, Noren, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Senior year, Working title, like yeri, mentions of other '99 and '00 liners
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-02 13:56:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15797919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: jeno^–^ @jenothicc10k rts and i’ll ask my crush outReplies 8,000 Retweets 164K Likes 78Kor Jeno just needs a little confidence boost from the Internet.





	1. 10,000 Retweets

  
  
**J** eno isn't exactly what you would call a troublemaker. At least from a far, he didn’t seem like one. He was a good student, he made straight As and Bs, was the co-captain of the soccer team and a member of student council. He made everyone feel welcome with his warm eye smile and kind, goofy, laugh. He was what one would call a real, genuine person, the kind of person that was hard to find.

His friends, Donghyuck and Yukhei, they were the real troublemakers. And he always found himself getting into trouble when the two were around. You see, his friends both hated losing and Jeno wasn’t so found of losing either. He loved to win, and he loved to prove people wrong. So, whenever Donghyuck would come up with some crazy scheme he couldn’t just say no, that was so unlike him.

Jeno remembers the day he met his best friends. It was the first day of third grade. He had just moved to Seoul and he didn’t know anyone at the time. When his teacher had asked the students to get into groups of three, he, Donghyuck and Yukhei were the only ones left without a group. Donghyuck didn’t have friends (though he claimed he did) and Yukhei, like Jeno, had just moved to Seoul. Yukhei was from China, so at the time his Korean was a little rusty.

Their friendship began that day, but, more importantly, the prank war began. Jeno doesn’t even remember what led up to the pranks. Maybe it was because Donghyuck just loved to live life on the edge, as he would say, and Jeno had just gotten caught up in it. Donghyuck had asked out of the blue, “want to play a game?” and Jeno, being the gullible person he was, gladly said yes. Yukhei could only watch the two, as he had little understanding of what was going on.

“Let’s play truth or dare, but without the truth.”

“What’s the fun in truth or dare if you can’t do truths?” Jeno had asked.

“Truths are for pussies,” the younger boy had answered, an exuberant look in his eyes, “dares are fun.”

Jeno agreed to play. The game started off light, with dares of knocking over the paint in art class or confessing their love to the cutest girl in their year. As time went by, Yukhei’s Korean improved and the pranks got more fun and a lot more riskier, like setting off stink bombs in the school cafeteria or changing all of the room numbers to the classrooms on the first floor of the school.

The three had recruited an innocent freshman named Park Jisung during their sophomore year of high school. The boy had joined the soccer team that the three older boys just so happened to be on, and they instantly clicked. Jisung was never fond of actually doing pranks but he loved giving ideas and sitting back to watch the chaos unfold.

 So, when Jeno, Donghyuck and Yukhei would find themselves in detention during lunch, Jisung found himself spending time with a Chinese exchange student named Chenle.

The dares, for the most part, had died down during junior year. Their lives began to get hectic. They were all on the soccer team, Jeno was in student council and key club, Donghyuck was in drama club and choir, and Yukhei played more sports like basketball and wrestling. Jisung, in his sophomore year, had joined the school's dance team, and Chenle had became his boyfriend.

As the summer after junior year ended and the start of senior year began, Donghyuck had demanded they make their last year in high school memorable. That meant bringing back the big dares.

 

So far, nothing big had happened.

  


The group sit outside in the schools courtyard. The leaves had began to turn different shades of red, one leaf falling onto the groups table. Jeno is hit with the cool, autumn breeze, his bleached hair falling in his eyes. Jisung is sat right next to him, Donghyuck and Yukhei on the other side. Donghyuck is going off about something and, as usual, Jeno doesn’t seem to be aware of it. His eyes are glued to a boy sat at a table across the plaza.

The boy doesn’t notice Jeno’s stare. He’s too caught up in what his friends are saying. He lets out a loud laugh at something the boy across from him says, biting his lip to try to suppress them. Jeno can’t see his face, but judging by the pink hair, he knows that it must be Na Jaemin, a boy from the basketball team. Jeno wonders what Jaemin must feel to be able to make the boy in front of him laugh like that.

“Jeno, hello.” Jeno turns his attention back to an irritated Donghyuck. “What?”

“Are you gonna ask Renjun out, or are you gonna keep staring at him like freak?” Donghyuck deadpans, shoving a spoonful of rice into his mouth. Jeno chokes on his soda. He suddenly feels really hot in the chilly atmosphere. He knows that his friends can see the tint of pink in his cheeks when Jisung gives one side a poke, giggling softly.

 “Why would I ask him out? Are you crazy?” Jeno asking Renjun out? _It’s never going to happen_. Why would someone like Renjun even blink twice in his direction, let alone go out with him? There were just some things in this world that should never happen.

“Come on, Jeno. It’s not like he would say no,” Jisung interjects, “I know him, he’s one of Chenle’s best friends and he’s like, really sweet.”

 Jisung looks over at the table Renjun is seated at, and Jeno follows his gaze. Chenle is now at the table sitting right beside Renjun. He can hear Chenle’s loud laughter from across the way, and Jisung perks up, laughing too.

“Even a nice person would turn me down,” says Jeno.

“Are you fucking delusional? You’re one of the most popular boys in this school and you think _anyone_ would turn you down, let alone Renjun? Get the stick out of your ass, Jeno.”

“Have you seen Renjun? He’s so beautiful, like too beautiful to even be real. Why would he go for a guy like me?” Jeno frowns and looks down at himself. Jeno was never really one to be self-conscious about the way he looked, but when it came to Renjun he always felt like he wasn’t good enough.

 Jeno had been crushing on Renjun since he moved to Seoul in the fourth grade and he has never even once attempted to talk to him. Jeno thinks that if he didn’t want to crawl into a hole every time Renjun did so much as just look in his direction, that he would’ve already gotten the guts to at least be his friend. But, you can’t always get what you want in life. Jeno has started to accept that.

“Wow, you really are delusional,” Yukhei laughs, shoving a handful of chips into his mouth. Jeno scoffs, “You really can’t talk, Xu, you still haven’t asked Jungwoo.”

“Hey, that’s because--” Yukhei is interrupted when Donghyuck perks up from his seat, holding a finger in the air. “I’m so stupid.” Jeno gulps. “We haven’t done dares in so long, that I almost forgot I could just dare you to go over there right now and ask him out.”

“Don’t you remember? In eighth grade, we said that people we have any sort of feelings for would be off limits.”

 “Come on, Jeno, stop being so boring.”

“I wouldn’t go over there, even if you held me at gunpoint.”

“Not even for a million dollars?”

 “No way.”

 “You’re hopeless.”

Yukhei pulls out his phone. “Why don’t we make this fun. It would be lame to just make him go over there.”

Jeno raises an eyebrow, suspiciously and Donghyuck wants to hear what he has to say. “What exactly do you have in mind.”

“Well the other day on twitter, this guy was like ‘if I get five thousand retweets, I’ll ask my crush out’ or something along those lines. But, the best part is that he ended up getting like, 50,000,” Yukhei explains.

“I saw that,” Jisung laughs, pointing at the older.

“That’s like the perfect dare. I never get any retweets.” Jeno receives an eye roll from Donghyuck. “That’s because your account is private, idiot.”

“Whatever.”

“So, you’re down to do it?” Jisung asks.

Jeno thinks. Actually, he doesn’t think. He just knows that he doesn’t like to say no to things like this. He may be well known around school, but there was no way he could get _five thousand_ retweets on some shitty post. “You know what, why not? Even when my account was public, the most retweets I would get were five, max.”

Jeno pulls out his phone and opens up the Blue Bird app and that’s when he begins to actually think about it. He doesn’t know why he’s agreeing to do this. Did he not just say that dares involving crushes would be off limits? Maybe it’s because he feels like this is his only chance, even if the chances were slim.

“What number of retweets should I set it to?” He asks.

“How about 1,000?” Yukhei suggests. Donghyuck groans, shaking his head, “1,000? really?”

“Then what do you suggest, Hyuck?”

“Ten thousand.”

Jeno snorts, “ten thousand? Like hell I would get that many retweets. Deal”

Jeno begins to type the tweet out and doesn’t notice the sneaky look Donghyuck sends to his friends, a way too familiar scheming smirk planted on his face. Jisung can’t help but gulp and Yukhei grins, slapping Donghyuck on the shoulder.

Donghyuck whines, saying Yukhei hits too hard, and the bells rings.

  
  


**\---**

 

**12:10 PM**

**TWITTER**

  


**jeno^–^** @jenothicc

10k rts and i’ll ask my crush out

 **Replies** 4 **Retweets** 15 **Likes** 9

 **xuxi**** @xuxi

@jenothicc be prepared to ask ur crush out tomorrow

 **jeno^–^** @jenothicc

@xuxi yh it’s not gonna happen buddy

 **full sun** @leehyuck

@xuxi @jenothicc just wait ;)

 

 **chenle’s** @parkjisung

@jenothicc good luck…

  


**\---**

On the way 6th period Physics class, Donghyuck bugs his older friend about the tweet, promising that he’d surely be asking Renjun out by the next day. Jeno denies and calls bluff. In class, Donghyuck is busy looking down at his phone. Jeno was curious, wanting to know what was keeping his friend so busy, but now he’s looking up at Renjun. He’s standing in front of the class, a powerpoint on the screen. It’s presentation day and Renjun is the first student up after volunteering himself.

 

Jeno isn’t really processing Renjun’s words, he’s saying something about the laws of physics or whatever. Jeno doesn’t really know. He’s too engrossed in how angelic Renjun’s voice sounds, how smoothly he speaks, how his voice is low, but loud enough for everyone to hear. Jeno can see the way his eyes shine like he was passionate about the subject. When Renjun’s presentation is over, the class applauds him and the teacher gives him a pat on the back. Renjun can't seem to stop grinning as he makes his way back to his seat by Na Jaemin, giving him one of these Bro Shakes.

 

As the next presenter goes up, Jeno can’t seem to stop his eyes from drifting over to Renjun and lingering on the side of his face for a second before turning away. Donghyuck is done with whatever he was doing on his phone and has to kick Jeno to make him snap out of whatever stupid love trance he was in again.

 

“Why’d you kick me?” Jeno asks in a hushed whisper, leaning down to rub his calf. Donghyuck rolls his eyes. “I didn’t kick you that hard, but I’ll try again if you want me to.”

 

Donghyuck pears around Jeno’s shoulder to look at what Renjun is doing. Jaemin is whispering something into the smallers ear and when he pulls away, Renjun looks at Jeno, averting his gaze upon seeing Donghyuck starring.

 

“He’s catching on, you idiot.”

 

Jeno’s cheeks heat up and he has to lay his head down on his desk to cool down.

  


**\---**

  


Jeno stands against a wall, outside of the locker room. Soccer practice had finished and Jeno is mentally groaning at how long he had been waiting for Donghyuck to shower and change. If he wasn’t a good best friend, he would’ve ditched the boy like Yukhei and Jisung had. But he really cherished the walks home with him and he didn’t plan on breaking their six year long streak just because he was tired.

 

He checks his twitter account only to find out the tweet had gotten around one-hundred retweets so far. Jeno wants to grin. He should be happy that the retweets seem to be slowing down, but he can’t help but feel a tiny bit disappointed.

 

Under normal circumstances, Jeno would try to avoid Renjun and the topic of Renjun every chance he got. He was too scared to confess to the boy, too scared to even spare him a glance as they would pass each other in the hallways. Whenever he would see Jisung with Chenle, Renjun would be there. Those were the times that Jeno would try to get over his little fear and just say _hello_. But, even when he thinks his courage is starting to grow, he ends up turning around, shaking his head frantically.

 

Jeno wouldn’t say he would be forced to talk to Renjun under the circumstances that he got 10,000  retweets. Rather, he thinks that maybe encouragement from the internet would boost his confidence.

 

Jeno doesn’t notice that Donghyuck had exited the locker room. Donghyuck is standing in front of the older and clears his throat to get his attention. Jeno jumps, nearly dropping his phone.

 

“Jesus,” Jeno clutches the right side of his chest. Donghyuck raises an eyebrow, a sly grin making its way onto his face. “Were you just trying to clutch your heart? You know your heart is on the left side, right? Dummy.”

 

Jeno laughs awkwardly and claims that he was never good at anatomy. “Sure,” Donghyuck giggles. They start to make their way towards the front of the school.

 

“Why were you frowning at your phone?” Donghyuck questions. Jeno shakes his head, as if to say that there was nothing wrong. “If it was about the tweet, trust me, it’s gonna get the retweets it needs.” Jeno raises an eyebrow and starts to question the boy, but Donghyuck opens his mouth again before Jeno can say anything. “I almost forgot, I need to pick up my backpack from the choir room.”

 

Donghyuck turns around, and heads for the stairs, Jeno following close behind. “Why is your backpack in the choir room?” Jeno asks.

 

“I couldn’t be bothered to carry it to the locker room after school. I’m glad I remembered I left it, though. I have calc homework to finish,” he sighs.

 

The pair make their way up to the third floor, a floor dedicated to fine arts and music. For the most part, the floor is unfamiliar to Jeno. He wasn’t much of the art or music type of guy, but sometimes he liked to dance in the studio with Jisung. Other times, when he would ask a teacher to be excused to the restroom, he would come up to tease Donghyuck with silly faces from outside the choir rooms window.

 

The choir room is towards the back of the floor, where most of the music classes were. To get there, the art rooms must be passed. Jeno doesn’t think much of it as he looks down at the floor, carefully placing each foot into the little squares on the ground, clutching onto the straps of his backpack. That is until Donghyuck says loudly, “Ew, it’s Mark.”

 

Jeno gulps. _Mark._ Renjun’s friend, and to much of his luck, Donghyuck’s friend.

 

He breathes in and looks up. Donghyuck is leaning against the doorframe of one of the art rooms. His heartbeat quickens when he looks past his shoulder into the room. He spots Mark sitting next to a boy. _Renjun_.

 

They seemed to have been working on some art project before Donghyuck decided to interrupt. Mark doesn’t seem to mind, though. His eyes beam behind a pair of specs and he gets up from his seat to come to Donghyuck.

 

“You stink. Go take a shower,” Mark laughs, holding his hand out to shake Donghyuck’s hand playfully. Jeno can see the back of Donghyuck’s neck turn red and mentally reminds himself to tease him for it when they left. He then looks at Renjun. He had turned back to the project when Mark got up, coloring in something with a paintbrush.

 

When he feels eyes on him, he looks up. Jeno freezes, unsure if he should look away or send him a friendly smile, maybe even wave. Renjun is quicker though, smile already planted on his face. Jeno thinks right then at the moment that his heart stopped, mouth opening to form a small ‘o’ shape. Renjun is so beautiful and so breaktaking when he smiles and Jeno is quite unsure of what to do.

 

Renjun raises an eyebrow, when he doesn’t say anything. Jeno can see his shoulders start to heave up as he lets out a small giggle. Jeno can’t hear it because his heart is beating too loudly in his chest all the way up to his ears, and before he can react Donghyuck is pulling him down the hall.

  


**\---**

 

**9:56 PM**

**MESSAGES**

 

**GROUP CHAT: Prank War**

 

 **jeno** : my tweet has only gotten 300 retweets

 **jeno** : i win u lose

 **jisung** : this was a pretty lame dare ngl

 **hyuck** : just wait and see

 **jeno** : what exactly is that supposed to mean

 **xuxi** : just wait and see.

 **jeno** : ???

 **jeno** : whatever im going to sleep see u guys on monday

 **jisung** : hey what am i missing guys???

  


**GROUP CHAT: Schemers**

 

 **xuxi** : so what exactly did u mean in the gc

 **xuxi** : uve yet to tell me what ure planning

 **hyuck** : did you know that you can buy retweets

 **hyuck** : and get big accounts to retweet your tweet

 **xuxi** : omg dont tell me u actually bought rts

 **hyuck** : and if i did?

 **hyuck** : it’s time for jeno to stop being a pussy

 **xuxi** : how many rts did u buy exactly

 **hyuck** : this guy that i messaged earlier said that he could get the tweet to at least 12k

 **xuxi** : im... speechless

 **hyuck** : don’t worry

 **hyuck** : jen is gonna wake up to a big surprise

 

**\---**

  


Jeno wakes in the morning to the chiming of his phone and a pillow being thrown at his head by his brother, Taeyong. He wants to open his eyes but he just can’t, wanting to bask in the images from his dream before he ended up forgetting.

 

He dreamed of Renjun and his pretty eyes, his ethereal smile and his golden hair. Jeno recalls his dream to be oddly similar to the little run in with Mark and Renjun at school. But instead of being Mark sat close to Renjun it was Jeno. They had goofed around a little too much and Jeno ended up with blue paint smudged on his nose and then his cheek. Soon enough he was covered in paint. A giggling Renjun was to blame.

 

Another pillow hits Jeno’s head and he finally smacks out of it. “What, what, _what_ do you want?” He shouts at his brother, looking over to the alarm clock sat on his bedside table. It reads **10:07 AM**. Jeno groans.

 

“You might want to check your twitter,” Taeyong warns. He’s standing over Jeno’s bed, an amused look on his face and another pillow in hand. “Your little tweet from yesterday blew up. It’s insane.”

 

Jeno gulps. “M-my tweet?” _Oh no_.

 

Jeno hurriedly digs around for his phone hidden somewhere amongst his pillows and blankets and opens his phone to seventy texts, ten missed calls, and one hundred plus notifications from twitter. He looks at Taeyong with wide eyes before opening the app.

 

He shits himself.

  


**\---**

**10:09 AM**

**TWITTER**

  


**jeno^–^** @jenothicc

10k rts and i’ll ask my crush out

 **Replies** 8,000 **Retweets** 164K **Likes** 78K

 

 **full sun** @leehyuck

OH MY GOD

 

 **xuxi**** @xuxi

we-

 

 **chenle’s** @parkjisung

i’m speechless

 

 **tae >< **@leeyong

WHAT IS THIS??!!!

 **tae >< **@leeyong

ALSO is ur crush still who i think it is? *eye emoji, thinking face emoji*

 

**\---**

  



	2. Will you go out with me?

**D** onghyuck and Yukhei come running down the street to Jeno’s house faster than he is able to process what is really happening on his Twitter account. He had been glued to his mattress, buried in his blankets and phone long forgotten when the two boys came bursting through his bedroom door.

Now, Yukhei is sat in the wooden chair at Jeno’s desk and Donghyuck is on the floor, leaning against the closet door, a familiar, devious look on his face. Jeno is still in his bed, back pressed against the bed frame, hugging a pillow to his chest for dear life. He’s doing everything in his power to ignore his friends. He’d already gotten enough teasing and questioning from his older brother, Taeyong before he had left for work at the coffee shop, a common hangout spot. He wasn’t in the mood for his friends’ nagging as well. 

Donghyuck lets out a hasty sigh. “Are you gonna acknowledge what happened anytime soon?”

Jeno perks up from behind his pillow and peaks around. “I’m just…,” he falters, at a loss for words. “I’m in shock. What the fuck? 100k retweets…thats...”

Jeno had gone to bed the night before content. He was completely sure that the tweet wouldn’t do numbers, even if a tiny part of him did want it to somehow, magically, blow up. But, the battle between himself and his self-consciousness and self-doubt would always win in his book. Jeno wants to tell his brain that Renjun is just a guy, just a normal schoolboy crush, so why should he be so afraid of him?

“I get it,” Yukhei begins, “when I opened twitter this morning I choked on my rice. I really wasn’t expecting that.” Donghyuck coughs and scratches his head, “Yeah…”

Jeno warily looks towards the younger boy on the floor. He remembers Donghyuck saying something about his tweet getting the retweets it needed the day before, but he never had a chance to question him. He was too busy flirting with Mark after school and on the way home Donghyuck had distracted him with ideas for a senior prank. “Did you have something to do with this?” Jeno inquires.

Donghyuck looks down at the floor, mouth agape. It’s like he’s looking for the right words to say. When he doesn’t respond, Jeno looks at Yukhei who can only smile awkwardly and turn away “Did you _both_ have something to do with this?”

Jeno breaks into a sweat and jumps up from his bed to start pacing around the room frantically. “Oh my god, you both had something to do with this.”

Yukhei gets up to grab Jeno’s arm, “I had _nothing_ to do with this, I swear! I just…knew what Donghyuck was planning...”

Jeno huffs. He wants to keep his cool, he really wants to. This shouldn’t even be that big of a deal. He should be happy, excited even. He should’ve seen it coming anyway, it was Donghyuck he was dealing with after all. Donghyuck would not stop until he got what he wanted. Besides, Jeno _is_ the one who agreed to send out the stupid tweet. He just feels a little betrayed, is all.

“Hyuck, I’m gonna kill you! This is cheating! Page one of the _stupid_ , _fucking_ dare book! You aren’t supposed to tamper with anything!”

Donghyuck gulps, standing up slowly, back still against the closet door. “This isn’t completely my doing. I paid this guy to make sure it got twelve thousand retweets, but then it just blew up out of nowhere, even people from our school have been retweeting it.”

“You still cheated, asshole! If you hadn’t brought money into this, it wouldn’t have blown up!”

By now, Jeno is in Donghyuck’s face. “Okay, can we just calm down,” Yukhei interjects, pulling Jeno away. “It’s _just_ twitter, you can easily delete that tweet. Hyuck is dumb, you should’ve seen this coming, anyway. And no one is gonna force you to ask the guy out. You’re getting worked up for nothing, Jeno.”

Jeno sighs in defeat, shutting his eyes tightly, “I know. I’m not even really mad…I just…” The whole situation is just really weird to Jeno. Two days ago he was avoiding any mention of Renjun and now the boy is the cause of all his problems.

“Look, I’m sorry, Jeno.” Donghyuck says it apologetically, but the look on his face tells Jeno he isn’t really sorry. “Yukhei is right, it’s just twitter so I’m not sure why I was crazy enough to buy fucking _retweets_ . I blew $20 on _twitter.._ .” He speaks, quietly, avoiding eye contact, like he can’t believe his stubborn ass is actually _apologizing_. Jeno isn’t sure he’s ever heard the younger speak so low.

“All I was thinking about is how much you like Renjun. You’ve been pining after him since we were in the 4th grade. We’re seniors now, and your feelings have never wavered. I just didn’t want you to lose a chance with him and regret it before we graduate and go to college. Like, what if you never see him again?”

Jeno can tell Donghyuck really means it this time. Donghyuck did a lot of stupid things, but his genuine intentions were always pure and were always there. As serious as Donghyuck was about their dares, Jeno knew he wouldn’t make him do something he wasn’t comfortable doing.

Jeno is sitting back on his bed and the younger continues. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have even brought him up yesterday.”

“It’s fine Hyuck, I overreacted.”

They sit in silence for a while, the tension leaving the air. It was never this quiet when the three of them were together and Jeno is starting to feel bad for reacting the way he did, even after they talked it through.

Five minutes pass and Jeno and Donghyuck don’t know what to say, so Yukhei finally breaks the quietness. “But, Jeno, have you been on twitter since this morning? Did you see all of the supportive comments people have been leaving?”

Jeno looks over to his phone that had been sitting untouched for a while in the mess between the sheets and blankets. “I closed the app as soon as I saw the number of retweets it had.”

“I think you should open the app backup,” Yukhei suggests. “No one is forcing you to ask him out, but we still think you should. Maybe all of the comments will like… boost your confidence.”

Jeno picks up the phone, looking down at the black screen. “Really? I _was_ hoping a little confidence boost would do the trick.”

“Knowing you, the replies will do more than boost your confidence–”

“Don’t finish that sentence, Hyuck,” Jeno warns. Yukhei grins at the two. They are finally back to the usual.

Jeno unlocks his phone with his thumbprint and hesitantly opens up the app. His notification tab is still full, reading **20+**. The tweet is at 200k by now and he wants nothing more than to just delete it. But, as he starts to scroll down towards the replies he can’t help but feel like his ego had begun to get bigger and bigger.

There are replies from his brother Taeyong and his friends, complete strangers, and people from school. All of the comments are fairly positive, some people give advice and some people wish him good luck.

 

**\---**

 

**12:45 PM**

**TWITTER**

 

**jeno^–^** @jenothicc  
10k rts and i’ll ask my crush out  
**Replies** 8,471 **Retweets** 200K **Likes** 81K

**tae >.< **@leeyong

PLEASE ASK HIM OUT. YOU'RE A LEE NOT A BITCH!

 

**john** @youngho95

OH? @leeyong WHAT GOES ON

 

**bunny heejin** @jeonhee

JENO?! ur tweet really blew up! keep us updated:)

 

**chan** @leechan

ROOTING FOR YOU!

 

**yerim** @yerikim

*eye emoji* by the time i see u in calc on monday u better have a boo in hand

 

**felix** @leefelix

YOU'VE GOT THIS. YOU DON’T NEED RETWEETS ITS ALL YOU

 

**mark shakur** @morklee

hey we don’t talk much, or at all really, but i’m sending you positive vibes!

 

**\---**

 

Jeno is in shock, really. He doesn’t know what he was expecting from the comments, but he surely was not expecting this. “I’m… speechless,” he says, looking up from his phone, eyes wide. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Well, how do the replies make you feel?” Donghyuck asks. Donghyuck has a big grin plastered on his face and Jeno wants to punch it right off because maybe he won this round after all.

Jeno thinks. He thinks maybe he should feel embarrassed that this is what it’s had to come to. His cheeks are heated and his heart is jumping like it's in a 100-Meter Dash. But he feels good. Sure, he was one of the more popular guys in his school, but he doesn’t remember a time where he’d ever gotten this much support. As his phone buzzes and the notifications continue to flood in he starts to feel really satisfied.

He suddenly remembers a time when his mother warned him and Taeyong to be careful on the Internet, because it’d change a person like the wind, and that wasn’t always a good thing. He quickly pushes that thought to the back of his head because this, the boasting of his ego is what he needed.

“I honestly feel great.” His friends are surprised at that statement, but nevertheless, they jump up with Jeno when he shoots up from the chair. “I think I’m gonna do it!”

“You’re gonna ask Renjun out? Like, for real this time?” Yukhei is bewildered.

“Yeah. I think those comments really helped.”

“That quickly?!” Donghyuck gives Yukhei a knowing look. Donghyuck _was_ expecting Jeno to change his mind. Jeno loved praise and he loved when attention was focused on him, but his friends had given him two days max for his confidence to reach this level. They were talking about a guy Jeno had been in love with for eight years.

“My adrenaline is pumping through the roof right now. If I don’t do it now, while I’m this hyped, I probably never will. This is my last chance.” Jeno says, assured

“Okay, this is great,” Yukhei claps his hands, “all you need is his number!” Yukhei and Jeno turn towards Donghyuck with grins plastered on their faces. Donghyuck feels the sun on his face, turning away from the two. “Why are you guys looking at me?! Why would I have his number?!”

“Uh, I don’t know. Maybe because you’re going out with Mark! And Mark just so happens to be Renjun’s best friend!” Yukhei teases, wrapping an arm around Jeno’s shoulders. “So are you gonna give him Renjun’s number or what?”

Donghyuck is bright red. “Okay, first of all, I’m _not_ dating Mark, and second of all, even if I _was_ dating Mark, why would I have Renjun’s number! That would be fucking weird!”

Donghyuck turns to look at them after his face cools down. “Besides, don’t you literally _know_ Renjun, Yukhei? You know, the Chinese club thing you guys have every week at the coffee shop?” Jeno knows. Renjun is super close with one of Taeyong’s friends, Sicheng, and he sees them together every Tuesday at the coffee shop Taeyong works at. Sometimes Yukhei and Jisung’s boyfriend tag along, but mostly it’s just Renjun, Sicheng, and some other guy Jeno doesn’t know the name of.

Yukhei rolls his eyes, letting out the biggest huff. “Renjun hasn’t spoken to me since that time I told him he was the reincarnation of the devil sophomore year. I also called him many other things in regards to how short he is, but let’s not get into that.” He earns a smack on the arm from Jeno.

Donghyuck sighs in defeat, shaking his head. “Lucky for you, I know what his twitter is... I go through Mark’s following list daily,” he mumbles out the last part, but still earns a shove from his friends.

 

**\---**

 

Renjun’s twitter handle is _pureboyhaung_ and that makes Jeno’s heart jump. He wants to squeal into a pillow. Renjun, in Jeno’s eyes,  _is_ a very pure human being and he doesn’t need to know him to get that fact across. From afar he can see it. He can see it in the light that he radiates with every smile and every laugh. He can see it when he speaks up in class. He can see it when they cross paths in the hallways. He can see it from across the courtyard. He can see it when Renjun just is.

Renjun is wearing a beret over his bright hair in his profile picture, and Jeno thinks he glows. His bio reads ‘ _contrary to popular beliefs, Mark and Jaemin aren't my friends’_  and Jeno thinks it must be some kind of inside joke between him and his friends. Jeno’s eyes search for the little, blue, mail button on his profile and when he spots it, he sighs in relief, thankful that he didn’t have messages from non-mutuals disabled.

Jeno is sat at his desk and his friends Donghyuck and Yukhei are sitting across from him on the bed. They are cheering loudly for him and Jeno is living for it. He knows that this is his last shot.

“Okay guys, I’m doing it.”

 

**\---**

 

**1:02 PM**

**MESSAGES**

**黄仁俊** @pureboyhuang

 

**jeno:** um hi. this is Renjun right?

**jeno:** wait dumb question. you’re obviously Renjun

**jeno:** this is going to sound weird but…will you go out with me? like on a date?

**jeno:** of course you can say no… i mean you will obviously say no because you don’t even know me lol

**jeno:** but ive liked you for years and i just had to get this off my chest

 

**\---**

 

Renjun is in a familiar, comforting space with his friends when he gets the messages and the guys can’t stop teasing him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahh. i received a lot of undeserving love with the first chapter and i'm really grateful! i'm sooo sorry for the late update. (i was feeling very ehhh with the storyline. also, i started my third semester (2nd year) of college and my mind has been all over the place because i haven't really been feeling the whole college thing lately and i also get scared thinking about my future and ahhhhhhhh. sorry to ramble)
> 
> question: do you think this chapter moved too fast? i'm rereading it and i feel like it did


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